Dance Music - What's Up With That?

I know I haven't posted anything in quite a while but I have been rather busy. Between going to see the Gypsy Kings at Casinorama (BTW a must see!!!) and listening to completely different styles of music and playing gigs. I really went into an area of music that I had no interest in, why? Well I thought that this particular genre quite frankly "bored the arse out of me". So I wanted to know more about dance music, types of artists and why I really didn't like this particular style.
So the only way that I can get to know about how anything works, feels, sounds is to immerse myself.
Yep I downloaded both Cd's of Lady GaGa which to me was one of the most interesting artists to listen to. Turns out that when you strip the music down and really get into what makes up how each of her songs are processed and glued together it is quite interesting. For one thing if you just listen to the music itself and in this case the drums, none of the beats are overly complex, very few fills and a lot of processing. Actually in most dance songs they are all really processed. Sometimes you actually have a hard time hearing an actual drum sound. For example a lot of the snare drum sounds become claps, finger snaps, electro 80s snare, trashcan lid or a tambourine. The bass drum often sounds like that really bad 80s Simmons electro bass drum or some low thud frequency. Either way this is what makes up the basic sounds of a dance song for drums. Maybe that is why I was so opposed to this type of music or had I just shut myself inside the box instead of looking outside. It seems that if you are not open to an idea it can limit your creativity, right? So after listening to this particular artist for over a month and even comparing Lady GaGa to other artists I started seeing what I did like about this style of music. It just took me a while to really get in tune with this style.
There is this consistent driving beat, simplistic at times and one thing I have learned over all styles of music ..... sometimes it is harder to make something simple. It is always easier to throw in all kinds of drum fills or guitar licks wherever you want but to be able to restrain yourself enough to just lay down a straight forward driving beat and stay consistent throughout not just that song but most songs in a night, that takes a lot of control. I'm not saying that this is my new favourite music but I certainly have a new appreciation for what in this case Lady GaGa does. Several other things in this artist really impressed meas well, Not only can she actually write/sing/play piano but there was a particular song that she included on "The Fame" CD. "Again Again has a really different feel altogether, not overly processed at all, actually quite raw sounding and shows a very different style of her voice and writing style. It also has a very open raw sounding drum kit and shows off that this artist can really write.
So what was the point of this post? Well I learned that you can always open doors, find out why the door is closed and always look for good in everything. In case you are interested in hearing this song "Again, Again", here is youtube link to this song  Again Again - Lady GaGa Stay tuned or go phlat ........